ON WELLBEING || If You Manage People and Covid Killed Your Spirit, Here are 3 Ways to Get it Back
I recently reconnected with a few friends from university.
The good news is they’ve gone on to do great things. Some started their businesses and grew them from the ground up. Others secured roles in their dream industries or companies. The bad news is a recurring theme aside from talking shop was that we were sharing our work-induced health issues.
We aren’t talking about back pains from sitting long hours at a desk. We’re talking about chronic chest pains, panic attacks during client meetings, anxiety attacks and insomnia when we’re alone at home trying to come up with the next big thing to keep the business alive. For others, the struggle was different. In 2021, there was a big uptake in the tech sector and everything digital or associated with running digital businesses experienced a surge in revenue; this is likely why tech giants overstaffed, expecting the curve to keep going up and up (until it didn’t). For these companies, managers were trying to keep their heads above all the work while also training their direct reports, a good portion of them being newcomers because turnover was so high as employees sought greener pastures with the promise of higher pay and work-from-home perks.
If you managed people during the pandemic and you didn’t have to deal with the people issues, such as who to hire or fire, how to accommodate everyone’s work-from-home schedules, manage the revolving door of employees, and adapt your management skill to the new environment, then maybe you escaped some of the stress.
Those who suffer from mental wellness issues often don’t show overt signs. Bottling your mental health issues up and leaving them unattended isn’t a solution.
For small business owners and managers who did have to deal with the burden of managing the business, I describe it as ‘we lost our light’ during the pandemic. We were too busy trying to figure out how to navigate the business; whether business surged or dropped off a cliff, there were sudden, black-swan problems for us to tackle.
So, what do you do when your light dims? Or when your fire and motivation get entirely put out? Here are a few ways to get back on track.
FIND THE BRIGHT SPOTS IN YOUR DAY
“Maybe you’re feeling burnt out because you’re not doing enough. You’re not doing enough of what makes you feel alive.” This was a line I recently heard from a Podcast on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast episode featuring Jim Kwik. It’s a concept also reinforced in a book I am working my way through, Designing Your Life. I say working through because there are exercises to design the life you want.
Find a way to keep tabs on things you do throughout your work day that brightens your day or a task you really enjoy that puts you in the zone. Maybe you love budgeting. Maybe you love to pitch ideas. Maybe you’re the creative chameleon who loves to put their feet up and dream up new concepts. A simple change you can make in your day-to-day is to do more of what makes you happy. Yes, you can even restructure your workday to do more of that.
“Maybe you’re feeling burnt out because you’re not doing enough. You’re not doing enough of what makes you feel alive.”
For example, I love strategy, coming up with it and teaching how to do it to my team. Nothing fires me up more than talking about strategy. Now, I set aside more time in my schedule to do that, and it’s made me feel more alive and brought back some of the fire I lost during the pandemic.
This method is for the people who love their job or the team they work with, but not all aspects of the job. You can change it up in the workplace, so take the initiative.
TAKE A MENTAL HEALTH BREAK
This will be a tough one because those who work so hard that they suffer from panic and anxiety attacks aren’t the ones who would feel comfortable taking a break from work. My friends and I refer to work as an unhealthy addiction.
Depending on what kind of business owner or manager you are, you may take on the extra work when there is turnover on the team because you want it done to your standards so you don’t punt the work down the ladder. If this is you, you were shouldering the burden to make it easier for others when team members quit or when the media was celebrating the four-day workweek that turned your workweek into a six-day workweek.
You need a mental health break. Yes, there may be fires that surface while you’re away, and the business will face some interruption, but wouldn’t it be better for the business to get a refreshed and reenergized you back in the driver’s seat after your break? A business owner or manager in survival mode and running on empty can’t be good for the business long term. If you collapse, there will be no business.
You team will benefit more from having someone who is well-rested and reenergized to lead them in the right direction.
I’m not talking about a 2-day break or a long weekend. I’m talking about a month-long, no phone or email mental break because guess what’s causing the anxiety? Your device and emails!
I’m not saying drop everything and leave because if I wanted to take such a break, I would also need to prepare everything for the team before I leave and ensure that it’s not during a busy period to take off.
QUIT
The thing with those who are ambitious and dedicated to their cause is that they find it hard to quit something that has run its course. We have this tendency in every aspect of our lives. The toxic friend, spouse or partner who we hope will turn over a new leaf. The dwindling business we hope to save if only we worked a bit harder. The direct report who we hope will perform to the team’s standards if you put in more hours to train and coach them. It’s incredibly hard to quit something you’ve put your heart and efforts into for months or years, but there’s a time when we have to admit defeat and throw in the towel.
Yes, this is the most drastic measure, but I recall a relationship guru once said that you can’t expect to find your next great relationship while you’re still in one! Applying this concept to something that may be more important, your career, wouldn't you want to dedicate your full attention and effort to identifying and evaluating what could be the next big break for you?
The hard part is figuring out your threshold to call it quits. Is it when you get passed over for a promotion? Is it when you collapse at your desk from exhaustion, pulling all-nighters? The point is you need to determine when this point is.
“Only you have the power and responsibility to make you happy”
If the pandemic killed your spirit and put out the sparkle you had in your eyes, you need to take some drastic measures or make some big changes to turn things around. While it may feel more comfortable continuing and seeing if things change, this is rarely the solution that will bring about the results you are looking for. Don’t sit around hoping that something will come along and reignite your fire and zest for life; that is in your hands, and only you have the power and responsibility to make you happy.
